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Witness David Schaffer said, "all of a sudden, it got real, real loud and it got real dark. and i saw these trees snapping."

By daybreak today the extent of the damage was clear and sobering. More than 100 tornado reports in five southern states. A death toll at 200 and climbing.

Clinton Smith and his family barely escaped as a twister tore apart his home in Oxford, Mississippi.

He said, "I screamed, we jumped in the truck and we took off and when we got past our driveway I saw the tornado and it slung us across right there. We ditched right there and the trees landed on top of us all three of us in that little truck."

Now, his wife is one of thousands picking through rubble in a frantic search for memories and survivors.

This 6-year -old boy was pulled from the rubble in Tuscaloosa, Alabama... a wooden door used as a gurney.

In these parts, these storms will be remembered for a long, long time.